Peter Pettigrew
by JuicyJuice
Summary: Follows Hestia Jones and her relationship with Peter Pettigrew (yes, I did say relationship). Starts at Hogwarts and should go until Harry's seventh year. It's...different, but try it, you'll like it. RR!
1. Default Chapter

A/N—This begins the story of Hestia, who is, might I add, a canon character (ha!). There will be a lot more with Peter Pettigrew eventually, which I'm really excited to write about. Enjoy!  
  
Professor Holmes began to pair the students off. Like always, Hestia waited with dread, prepared to have to face James for the first time since they broke up. She knew he would be so devastatingly collected and nonchalant that it would break her to pieces. She _was_ truly over him, but having to talk to him face-to-face, even if was just to explain how to extract ovules from a daisy, would be too much for her to live through. She would be awkward and halting, and he would be cool and careless, stirring a cauldron while flirting with the girls at the next table over.  
  
Hestia's muscles tensed, as if preparing for the mental impact.  
  
"Hestia Jones and. . .Peter Pettigrew."  
  
She smiled with relief and joined Peter at his desk in the front row. Dealing with Peter's bumbling would be a thousand times better, she was sure of it.  
  
Peter smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm sorry in advance for whatever's going to happen." "Psh!" she said, "Don't worry about it, you'll be fine. Nothing's exploded for what? Three weeks now?"  
  
"Even worse," he said glumly, "I can't keep it up much longer."  
  
She laughed, "I'll help you. It'll be good, just watch."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
Despite her comforting words, Hestia knew that mistakes and minor injuries clung to Peter like a niffler to a gold watch. They were nearly inseparable. As they set to work, Hestia made sure to tactfully dole out the all the simpler tasks to him, like retrieving supplies and chopping roots at two-centimeter intervals.  
  
Near the end of the period, when Professor Holmes complimented them both on the shimmering quality of the steam and the deep red color of the liquid, Peter's rather pointed features glowed with a little-boy pride that made Hestia want to hug him. She'd always found that she was happiest when helping others, no matter the personal sacrifice, and Peter's success kept her in a good mood the rest of the day.  
  
He thanked her about a hundred times before the class was through, and then once more when the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors joined for Double Charms.  
  
Charms was becoming Hestia's least favorite class. Her seat was right next to James, which made her uneasy and likely to forget what Professor Flitwick was saying. It had become a habit of hers to let her dark hair down before Charms so she could use it as a sort of shield from any unwanted conversation during which she was sure to turn bright red, feeding his ever-growing ego with the idea that she was still in love with him. It also stopped her from glancing at him at the wrong moment and making eye contact. But what she most feared was him making fun of her, like he did to countless others. If she started crying in front of James, she would never forgive herself.  
  
What was worse was that Lily Evans, a pretty Gryffindor with bright red hair, and James' latest interest (as far as Hestia could tell), sat directly in front of him. As Flitwick squeaked on about various spells, or if there was a lull in the classroom, James was sure to whisper things into ear. Sometimes she would giggle, sometimes she would roll her eyes, and sometimes she would lean forward, as if taking vigorous notes, and ignore him completely. Though Lily was a girl who clearly possessed a good deal of sense, Hestia knew it wouldn't be too long until she, like so many other girls before her, started obsessing over his messy hair and heart-stopping laugh. And then there would be no hope for the girl.  
  
Hestia regained her focus and began to write:  
  
"When using Mayer's charm (invented in 1823 by Titus Mayer) on small objects, it may seem that it has no practical use. This is because--"  
  
"Hey! Hey Hestia!" whispered James. Mortified, she closed her eyes tight and exhaled, keeping her curtain of hair firmly in place.  
  
"Hestia!"  
  
It was no use; he would know she could hear him. She swept the hair behind her ear, "Yeah?"  
  
"D'you miss me?" he asked quietly, smiling in a way that would have melted her heart only a month ago. Now, however, it boiled it.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said d'ya miss me? Cause I was thinking maybe you and me could, you know, go and—" She gave him a half horrified, half I'm-going-to-kill-you look and turned her head swiftly back to Professor Flitwick, letting her hair fall comfortably in front of her face.  
  
What did he mean? Was he asking her out—again? There was no way she would say yes, but why would he ask her? It didn't make any sense. Then it struck her that it was probably just to make Lily jealous. She felt like something had punctured her stomach, and realized that maybe she wasn't as over James as she thought. She pushed the feeling aside and stole a quick glance at Lily, who gave her and empathetic cringe and got back to her notes. Hestia seriously considered a Cross-Eyed Jinx in the direction of James fat head, but knew she would never have the courage.  
  
"Psst!" It was James again, "So what do you say?"  
  
She gave him what she hoped was a scathing look and opened her mouth to speak.  
  
"Miss Jones, Mr. Potter, five points from both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff for your chatter. Discontinue it or I will be forced to administer detentions," said Flitwick, but not very harshly, as he was fond of them both.  
  
As the practical portion of the lesson began, Hestia hurried over to her cluster of friends, determinedly keeping her back to James, though she couldn't help noticing that he kept looking over at her and winking when their eyes met. Phyllis Edgecombe, another Hufflepuff, noticed and gave Hestia a questioning look. She just rolled her eyes, shrugged, and promised to explain in detail later.  
  
By the end of the lesson the happy feeling from helping Peter, if not completely gone, was well on its way to being so.  
  
She saw James again the next day, a few minutes before Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had been really excited about this lesson. Professor Yoflam (who had once been a Malfoy, but changed his name when his uncle was sent to Azkaban for murdering eight Muggles), was usually blatantly dotty with little or no direction in what he was saying, but his lesson the previous week on Boggarts had fascinated everyone, including Hestia, and, encouraged by the enthusiasm, he had promised to try and procure one for the following lesson.  
  
Her excitement, however, diminished exponentially with each footstep James took closer to where she was standing with her friends. He had his three best friends behind him: Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, all of them looking distinctly uncomfortable, with James as cool as ever.  
  
"You still haven't giving me an answer, Jones," he said.  
  
She couldn't remember a single thing she had ever liked about him. And to think just a month before their mouths had been inseparable. Resisting the urge to give him a stinging slap across the face, she turned her back on him and said something so bland and irrelevant to Margie Ogden that no one could remember it five seconds later.  
  
"Hey, Jones! You still—"  
  
"C'mon James, let's just go," said Sirius quietly, "Please."  
  
"Why?" James brushed him aside, "Hestia? Whaddaya say, huh?"  
  
"Leave it," said Remus, "You've been rejected, get over it. Now let's get the hell out of here before you embarrass yourself."  
  
Hestia, who had remained with her back turned until that moment, whipped back around.  
  
"Even your friends think you're an obnoxious prick, James, so quit pretending you're in love with me," she snapped. It was probably the meanest thing she had ever said to anyone in her life (purely from lack of confidence), and immediately after she said it the anger that had inflated her words and pushed them out of her mouth was replaced quickly by a gnawing guilt.  
  
As much as she now hated him, she had seen the look on his face after she yelled at him, and known it to be what many people had probably not recognized. He was clueless. Without something or other to keep his ego puffed, he had no confidence, no idea how to handle a situation where no one, not even his friends liked him. She pitied him so much in that moment she almost wished she could take back her words. If anyone could empathize with lack of confidence, it was she. Time kept going, however, and soon they were all huddled against the walls of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, eyeing a rattling trunk warily.  
  
A/N—REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!! The more the merrier!!!! 


	2. Tutoring

The Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson was as brilliant (and as terrifying) as expected, but Hestia still felt that she could have enjoyed it much better if James had not been right in front of her, triggering her thoughts back to recently-made and old memories that she would rather have forgotten.  
  
She was heading down to Herbology when Remus Lupin, followed closely by Peter Pettigrew, stopped her.  
  
"Look," he said, "I'm really sorry about what James did. I think he is too."  
  
"Why'd he do it then?"  
  
"I don't know, I think. . .I think—I don't know," Remus finished, carefully inspecting the floor beneath them.  
  
"Oh, come on, Rem," said Peter, "Just tell her."  
  
"You."  
  
"Fine. He thinks—we think that James still likes you. He sometimes says that he never thought that when he broke up with you that it would be—permanent," said Peter, now his eyes were on the floor as well.  
  
"He expected me to come crawling back, did he?" she asked, taking care to keep an incredulous look on her face, though she now found that it didn't really bother her anymore.  
  
"No!" said Remus quickly, "James isn't like that! You know him. Maybe he doesn't know what to do with girls, but he's the best friend anyone could ever have. Just believe me. . .he's nice," he gave a half- laugh at the obvious lameness of his last statement, "No, but seriously, he's just. . .you know."  
  
Hestia did know. James was popular yet unpopular, confidant yet lost. Yet much as she pitied him, and as much as she was flattered that he (maybe) still liked her, she knew the part of her with a little bit of pride would not allow her to go back to him.  
  
"No more James Potter for me," she said to Phyllis Edgecombe over lunch.  
  
"That's the spirit," said Phyllis, rather half-heartedly, as most of her face was lost behind a book.  
  
"Aw!" said Nancy Clementine, "But that's so cute, he still loves you! Not to encourage you or anything, but I do feel bad for him, and you were SO crazy over him."  
  
At Nan's words, Hestia looked over at the Gryffindor table. The bit of egg on the end of her fork went up to her mouth, but then she put the fork down, too distracted to notice that she hadn't eaten it yet. Phyllis and Nancy both noticed, but didn't say anything, exchanging meaningful looks.  
  
"No way, not for me," she said to herself, while looking at the fork with mild perplexity, wondering how the food had jumped onto it all by itself, "And if he comes up to me again, I'll—I'll. . .something."  
  
But James Potter did not address her again, or on any other topic. She avoided him regularly with such success that they did not come into close contact (except for seeing each other without acknowledgement during classes) until two years later when Professor Isenmouthe, the new Potions teacher, created the Organization of Student Tutors (OoST), and selected a few students from each house to be a tutor twice a week. Professor Isenmouthe had hung up signs in every common room, requiring the people he chose to attend a meeting. Hestia's name was on the list, and so of course she went to the meeting.  
  
She arrived five minutes early and the only other person in the room was Severus Snape, not exactly someone she wanted to be alone with, being a half-blood. She sat two tables down from him, and gave a polite smile when he looked her way, but then made sure to avoid all eye contact. Snape was one of those people who had no friends and was just plain creepy. She had had several discussions with Phyllis on how smart he was and how sad it was that his talents were wasted on the Dark Arts and being creepy, but it was hard to feel that sort of pity for him when he was right there in front of you, either glaring at you or reading The Guide to Murder, Torture, and Deceit, which he was rarely seen without. It was said that he kept an entire bookshelf of that same book, so that when he wore one out so much that it was unreadable, he could just take another one. That sort of rumor sounds odd and implausible when one hears it, but were one actually to see the boy paging through his book with disturbing intensity, one would have trouble disbelieving it.  
  
Because of all this, Hestia was distinctly relieved to hear the dungeon door open and hear people coming through it. When she turned to look, however, the sight was much less relieving. She felt the familiar clench in her stomach. Even after two years, seeing James still made her squirm a bit. He came in followed by Remus Lupin, and they sat at the table next to hers. For once in his life, James did not spare a comment for Snape.  
  
"Hey, Hestia," he said, smiling. So now they were on first-name terms. No more 'Jones.'  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Do you know if we have to do this? You know, this tutoring? Because if it's going to interrupt my Quidditch, I hardly think it's worth the extra credit."  
  
Hestia shrugged, "I'm sure he'll let you get out of it."  
  
"James!" said Remus, his voice taking on a teasing quality, "I thought you wanted to help people with their work! Why, just today you were talking to that Ravenclaw girl, you know, Urania Golding, the studious one, and saying how important it was to not only apply yourself, but help others as well in their academic pursuits."  
  
"Yeah, well," said James, not particularly embarrassed, "Quidditch is even more important."  
  
"To a directionless airhead, maybe," said Hestia with a smile, not knowing if she meant it or not.  
  
"I have direction!" said James, "I'm a Chaser; I have to have direction!" Remus and Hestia exchanged looks.  
  
"That's not what she meant, James," said Remus, with a laugh.  
  
This meaningless talk continued until the dungeon classroom was filled with the brightest students in the school and Professor Isenmouthe entered.  
  
The Professor spent more time than necessary outlining his Students- Teaching-Students-Theory. Had the students' egos not been so pleased to be chosen as the most intelligent in the school, they all probably would have begun passing notes and whispering, but as it was, they listened patiently. It was hard for Hestia to think of anything besides having spoken with James for the first time in so long. She couldn't help but feel grateful to him for making it so easy, though it seemed as if he hadn't even noticed that they hadn't been talking all the time.  
  
By the time the professor had finished speaking and assigned Hestia her tutoring days (Mondays and Thursdays), she was feeling very satisfied with how everything had played out. There was no point in sustaining a silence for a break up that had occurred two years ago, no matter what unforgivable things had been said afterward. It was just an inconvenience to not talk to someone for that long, especially if it was someone, like James Potter, who would probably not notice anyhow.  
  
Hestia started her tutoring career badly, at best, not like anyone would know that but herself. The person whom she was tutoring would never have been able to tell the difference, she was sure, but knowing that gave her little satisfaction. She tutored a seventh year Gryffindor, Raphael Meliflua, who was in danger of staying at Hogwarts for an eighth year or not graduating at all, but not from any lack of trying, only from lack of intelligence. Being a fifth year herself, Hestia wasn't familiar with the material and after confusing Raphael twice by saying conflicting things, she had to run and get a book (conveniently, most tutoring was in the library) and realized she wasn't even talking about the same charm, and they had to start the essay over again.  
  
Her second try was much more satisfactory, but it was accompanied by the awkwardness of assuming the role of a teacher to one's own classmate. She needed only to re-explain some Divination concepts to Peter Pettigrew. Two years had not improved him much academically. He was best friends with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, but he was not in their league in any other sense, least of all academically, and a lot of people, or Hufflepuffs at least, pitied him for it. Everyone knew that he was James Potter's first friend at Hogwarts, yet it always seemed as if he was a sidekick to the other three. He was quieter than the others, and probably nicer, but he always seemed perfectly content with them.  
  
Teaching him was not hard. Hestia merely repeated what the teacher had said in class and then answered all his following questions patiently, but still she felt strange about it. Tutoring didn't suit her; not even her vanity was satisfied by being placed above her peers, because she knew that she knew very little more than someone like Peter. The same concepts that she was now teaching might have baffled her, but she still would have had to teach them. She didn't mind teaching Peter so much, though, because though he was not a quick learner, he was eager to please and not easily frustrated.  
  
Hestia, therefore, concluded the session contentedly, and they walked back to their separate common rooms together as far as was convenient, discussing such everyday things as teachers and divination.  
  
If they had seen the future, as we all know it to be, perhaps they would not have been smiling so brightly...  
  
A/N—Thanks for the reviews!! Oh, and Lili, Hestia is not very spunky for two reasons, one is that I have something against spunky people (they tire me when I read about them), two, my summary says that there will be a relationship between Hestia and Peter and, quite frankly, I can't see a spunky person falling in love with Peter Pettigrew. You understand. Check the fifth book for Hestia. She's there, I promise.  
  
REVIEW! 


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